Improvement in harvesters



UNITED v STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. VI-IITNEY, OF MARYLAND, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEM'ENT'IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,S52,dated July 8, 1862.

To @ZZ whom, tm/ty concern,.-

Be it known that I, JAMEs A. WHITNEY, of Maryland, in the county of Otsego and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Mowing-Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eX- act description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side sectional view of my invention, taken in the line .fr x of Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a plan or top view of the same, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section of a portion of the same, taken in the line y y of Fig. 2.-

Similar letters of reference indicate corre-v sponding parts in the several gures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a mowing-machine that will be extremely simple in construction, very durable, operate with but little or no side draft, and capable of having its cutter adjusted with facility to cut at any desired height, and also readily elevated, temporarily, to pass over obstructions, as well as being capable of being readily secured in an elevated state, so as to be free from the ground to admit of the machine being drawn or moved from place to place.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents the frame of the machine, which is composed simply of an axle, a, having two arms, b b, projecting obliquely upward from its back side near each end and connected at their outer parts by a rod, c, the front side of the axle having a V-shaped projection, B, attached, which is formed of two arms, d d, supported by a caster-wheel, G, at their connected ends.

The caster-wheel C is fitted ina fork at the lower end of a vertical rod or arbor, e, which passes through the front part of the projection B, and has a screw-thread cut or formed on it, in which a nut, f, is placed. This nut is formed with a shoulder, on which a plate, g, is fitted, said plate being attached to the upper surface of thev projection B and keeping the nut in proper position. The nut f is allowed to turn freely with the rod or arbor e, but it is not allowed to turn casually on the rod or arbor, said contingency being prevented by a pin, lz., which passes laterally into the Anut and fits in a vertical groove, t', in the rod or arbor.

The frame A, with the exception of rod c, may be of cast-iron and cast all in one piece. The wheels j j of the axle a may be of castiron, and require no particular description.

D is the drivers seat, which may be constructed of a piece of board or\plank, with cleats 7c k attached to its under side, near its cords, to fit in notches Z Z in the arms b b, thelever F is allowed to work freely on the rod' n, and it is connected at its lower end 'by a link, o, to a frame, G, which is hung upon or suspended from the rod c at the back part of the frame A. The frame G is allowed to swing freely on rod c, and it is composed of two L- shaped side pieces, p p, connected at their angles by a cross-bar, q. The frame Gis cast in one piece, and to its front part the nger-bar H is secured by bolts r.

The wheel j is toothed at the inner side of its periphery, as shown at s, and into the teeth s a pinion, t, gears when the machine is at work. The pinion t is on a shaft, u, which is fitted in the frame G, and from the shaft u motion is communicated to a shaft, c, by bevelgearing w, shown clearly in Fig. 2. The shaft o is tted longitudinally in frame G, and it is provided at its front end with a crank, a', which, by means of a rod, b, drives the sickle I.

The sickle I may be of the ordinary reciprocating kind, and it is secured to the finger-bar H by bolts c', which are provided with long heads d', to cover slots e in the sickle-plate, through which the bolts c pass. ,This will be fully understood by referring to Fig. 3. By this arrangement the sickle is allowed to operate with but little friction, and the slots eare kept free from all trash which would impede the free operation of the sickle. p Y

rIhe draft-pole is attached to the projection B, and on the foot-piece E there is secured a catch, f', which is simply a short bar pivoted at one end to the foot-piece, as shown at g.

From the above description itwill be seen that vas the machine is drawn along, the sickle I will be operated from the wheel j by means of the gearing described; and it will also be seen that by shoving forward the upper end of lever F the front end of the frame G, and consequently the sickle I and finger-bar -H, will be elevated, and the sickle may be retained in an elevated state, when necessaryas, for instance, in drawing the machine from place to place-by adjusting the catch f behind the lever F. When merely a temporary elevation of the sickle is only required, the driver can effect the result by grasping the upper end of lever F and inclining himself back on the seat D, the machine being so nearly balanced that the weight of the driver will operate as described. The sickle may be made to cut at any desired height by turning the nut f on the rod or arbor e of the caster wheel. When the sickle is elevated by raising the front part of the frame G, the sickle-driv-- ing mechanism is thrown out of gear and the sickle is consequently inoperative, the pinion t leaving the teeth s of wheel j. When, however, the sickle is elevated temporarily by tilting the frames A G without actuating lever F,

'as previously described, the pinion t remains in gear with the teeth s. The whole device is extremely simple and efficient, may be constructed at a small cost, and there are no parts liable to get deranged by use.

Having thus described' my invention, what l? claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the sickle and its driving mechanism with the swinging frame G, constructed and operating in connection with the main frame Aand geared wheel j substantially as herein shown and described, so that when the front end of said frame is raised, the vibrations ofthe sickle will cease, and when said frame is allowed to descend the driving mechanism of the sickle will fall into gear by its own gravity, all as set forth.

2. The combination of the lever F with the swinging frame G and the drivers seat D, as herein shown and described, so that when said lever is pushed forward the sickle will be raised and its vibrations will be stopped, and when said lever is pulled backward Vin the manner described the sickle may be temporarily raised without stopping its vibrations,

all as set forth.

JAMES A. VHITNEY.

W'itnesses:

ABNER WHITNEY, J. T. THOMPSON. 

